How much filming is done in West Hollywood?

Short answer: Over 300 film permits issued in 2016, a 20% increase over four years

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West Hollywood issues over 300 film permits per year, based on a City database. That includes filming for television, features, commercials, and the web, as well as some still photography and student projects. Almost 100 different television and feature productions filmed one or more days in the city in 2016.

Film permits by year

The chart below shows the number of permits issued in recent years. The number grew from 269 in 2012 to 324 in 2016. That’s 20% growth over four years.

Note: Our data source is incomplete, so we don’t have a number for 2014 and the 2015 number is an estimate based on 10 months of the year. Sources; City of West Hollywood, Open Data, WeHo Filming Activity, accessed March 28, 2017; FilmL.A., “Feature Production Rebounds in L.A. as Local Filming Sets New Records,” press release, January 17, 2017; our analysis.

For comparison, the chart also shows film days reported by FilmL.A. That organization handles film permits for the City of Los Angeles, the County, Santa Monica, and a number of other jurisdictions. Their count excludes filming on sound stages and in non-member jurisdictions like West Hollywood. Their number of film days grew 28% over the same period from 2012 to 2016.

Productions with the most permits

The shows with the most permits over our four years of data were:

Vanderpump Rules

World’s Greatest Tribute Bands

LA Hair

Shahs of Sunset

Keeping Up with the Kardashians

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Rich Kids of Beverly Hills

Dash Dolls

SUR Project

Flipping Out

Types of filming

The list of productions with the most permits suggests that filming in West Hollywood is reality-television-focused. The City’s numbers confirm it. In 2016, television productions asked for over half (57%) of the film permits. By comparison, less than half (42%) of FilmL.A.’s 2016 filming days were for television. In West Hollywood, two-thirds of the television permits went to reality television, or 37% of all film permits. At FilmL.A., one-third of the television days were for reality television, or 12% of the total.

Sources: Same as above.

Feature films used only 4% of all film permits in West Hollywood. Features represented 12% of the filming days in Los Angeles and the other communities covered by FilmL.A.

Filming locations

The City’s database identifies the filming location for some permits. This map shows those locations in 2016.

Short answer: Over 300 film permits issued in 2016, a 20% increase over four years|
West Hollywood issues over 300 film permits per year, based on a City database. That includes filming for television, features, commercials, and the web, as well as some still photography and student projects. Almost...

DavidWarrendavid_warren@post.harvard.eduAdministratorWeHo by the Numbers

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reports using data to explore city government policy, performance, and community issues. Focused on West Hollywood (WeHo), Beverly Hills, Culver City, Los Angeles, and Santa Monica. Researched and written by David Warren as a private citizen. This is not a government website.